Spelt Cheese Scones (and the secret to making great scones)
Ingredients
- 225g (8 oz) spelt flour (see notes)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarb (baking soda)
- 55g (2 oz) chilled butter (cut into small chunks)
- 120g (4¼ oz) grated strong cheese (I used cheddar)
- 90-120ml (6-8 tbs) milk (plus a little extra for brushing over the scones)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200℃ (400℉). Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Sift the flour, salt, cayenne pepper, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.
- Add the butter to dry ingredients, and either rub in with your fingertips or use a food processor. Do this just until you have fairly fine "breadcrumbs".
- Sprinkle 100g of the cheese into the breadcrumb mixture.
- If using a food processor, a few spins will be all you need just to incorporate the cheese. If making the scones by hand, use your fingers (or even a whisk) to quickly mix in the cheese.
- Make a slight indentation (well) in the ingredients, and pour in around 90ml (6 tablespoons). Using your fingers or your food processor, work the ingredients until they start to pull together as a dough. Add more liquid if needed, but do so gradually. You want a slightly sticky (but not wet) dough.
- Flour a surface and pour out the dough. Roll or pat it into shape, remembering not to overwork it.
- Using a cutter (mine was fairly large - 8cm) gently press straight down into the dough (don't wiggle or twist the cutter).
- Place on the prepared baking tray and brush over a little milk. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, just until they are golden brown. Keep an eye on them, and start checking them at the 10 minute mark. Serve warm, with lashings of butter. Enjoy!
Notes
Disclaimer: I have converted grams to cups/ounces/tablespoons using online converters. Although I have no reason to believe they are inaccurate, please be aware that as I have not made the recipe with these measurements, results cannot be totally guaranteed.
- You can use regular flour instead of spelt. I often interchange spelt and regular flour (and have never had any issues at all), but for the sake of transparency, I have not made this recipe with anything other than spelt flour. Please note: the amount of liquid may need to be adjusted if you are using different flours.